1265 Book(s) Related to mr hayes secret heir

In the third year of my marriage to Damian Spencer, I accidentally scratched his first love.
For that insignificant little scratch, on the evening of my birthday, he personally brought his bodyguards and cornered me in a damp, cold alley.
Without flinching, he had them crush my right hand—the one that held my bow—bone by bone.
He looked down at me coldly as I slumped in the mud, his voice devoid of any warmth: "Just be a good Mrs. Spencer. You don't need this anymore."
Yet later, this same man caged me in his arms like someone possessed, begging again and again—pleading with me not to forget what we'd been.
But all that met him was my empty gaze—hollow, confused, as if he were no one to me.

When I was nine months pregnant, my husband, Torin, forced doctors to extract my baby's cord blood to save his ex-wife's son. My baby died of suffocation ten minutes after birth, right before my eyes.
Instigated by his biological mother, my stepson sneaked into my room late at night and poured silver powder all over me. My skin rotted; the scars would last forever.
Later, the hospital ward caught fire, cutting off my escape. On the brink of life and death, Torin glanced back at me, scooped up his ex-wife, and walked into the safe zone without looking back.
Even later, he knelt in the ruins, hands dripping with blood, digging through the rubble brick by brick.
Until his subordinate stepped up behind him and choked out, "Alpha... we found the Luna's body."

A madman attacked the concert hall. I threw myself over my son, taking every blow meant for him. My spine shattered in three places.

My husband Arthur subdued the attacker and rushed us to the hospital—the picture of a devoted, loving spouse.

It was only after hearing his conversation with the doctor that I finally saw his true colors.

My crippling injury was merely collateral damage. My son Ethan? Nothing but a living cornea donor for Mia—the cherished daughter he had with his first love.

He treated my child like spare parts, never knowing Mia isn't even his blood.

My five-year-old son, Emrys, was poisoned by the deadly "Silver Eclipse." The only cure, Moonbloom Serum, had been seized entirely by my husband, Corvin, to save it for his nine-month-pregnant mistress, Melisande.
He froze all my bank accounts, forcing me to pawn the ring that symbolized my status as Luna and brave the dangerous black market just to secure the antidote.
But by the time I rushed back to the hospital, covered in blood, my child’s organs had already failed. He was gone.
When I threw the death certificate and divorce papers in Corvin’s face in despair, he just looked at me with mockery, accusing me of using our own flesh and blood to put on an act for his attention.
At that moment, all my love for him died completely. I took my son’s ashes, left the Ashmere pack, and decisively severed a mate bond that had tied us together for years...

On National College Decision Day, my two childhood best friends announced they were ditching the Ivy League to follow a scheming charity case to a garbage community college.
In my last life, I informed their parents.
It worked. Their futures were saved, but they killed me for it.
"Let go of me!"
Hayes had my wrist in a death grip, dragging me toward the edge. Ezra stood behind him, hands in his pockets.
"If you hadn't interfered, Willow would still be alive."
"Now it's your turn."
Then I was falling from the stadium bleachers.
I opened my eyes. Decision Day again.

The last thing I did before I died was lick dew off a rusted pipe.
Ninety days earlier, my fiancé Bastien promised he'd come back for me. He said three months in the Sahara would teach me not to be jealous of Posey—the girl I'd pulled from a refugee camp and raised as my own sister.
He didn't know the water ran out in the first week. He didn't know bandits broke my bones. He didn't care enough to find out.
While I lay dying on a rotting bed with a shattered leg, he was in Manhattan, sliding a pink diamond onto Posey's finger.
I died alone. But I didn't stay gone.
My soul followed a stolen necklace across the ocean, right back to his penthouse—just in time for the engagement party, the champagne toast, and the moment my body arrived at the door.

At four, they shattered both my legs. At six, they ruptured my left eardrum. At seven, they took my right eye—said I'd earn more sympathy begging blind.
After twelve years in hell, my billionaire parents finally found me.
The girl who stole my life grabbed my wrist, nails digging into my skin. "Dare take what's mine, and I'll break whatever's left of your legs."
I smiled, unclipping both prosthetics to show empty pant legs. "I don't have legs left."
She was terrified.

She was an S-rank spy — cold, brilliant, unstoppable. Then her own people betrayed her, and she died.
She woke up as the family idiot everyone laughed at.
Scarred face. Malnourished. Dead last in school. Abused by her stepmother, framed by her sister, mocked by the entire campus.
The original owner of this body could take it. She couldn't.
Call her ugly? She formulates her own skincare remedy — and stuns the room.
Call her stupid? Top university presidents come knocking at her door. Legendary doctors beg for her secret formulas. Global superstars chase her down for a collaboration.
All she wanted was a quiet, ordinary life this time around.
Instead, her covers keep blowing, and without even trying, she's climbed back to the top of the world.
Meanwhile, the most mysterious young lord in the city opens her classified file from her past life. A slow smile crosses his face.
"This so-called idiot… is rather interesting."

He rejected and humiliated her for being a nobody - not knowing he would soon be begging her for mercy.
Suddenly she becomes royalty - the Lost princess found.

Sebastian rejected Cindy and cast aside their fated bond, choosing another to be his Luna.But then fate had other things for him. The man who once held all the power, is brought to his knees.With his life and his wolf hanging by a thread, fate turns cruelly ironic. The very woman he broke now holds the power to save him.

Sebastian’s voice trembled as he reached for her.
“Please… Cindy…Lisa,” he begged. “You have to help me. I’m your mate.”
Her gaze remained steady, unyielding.
“You will address me properly,” she replied calmly.
“I am Your Highness to you. Only those who stood by me when I was nothing earn the right to call me by my name.”

Will Cindy offer mercy to the man who denied her worth?

He hated her, believing she betrayed him and his family. Only to discover that he was the villain all along...

Mila Russetti’s life turned upside down the moment she decided to break the rigid rules of her foster family__the most dangerous Mafia family in the USA__for the first time in her life.

By that single act of rebellion, she payed dearly: she was set up, raped, used as a pawn to break down the Haydens.
Her foster family kicked her out of their lives and sent her overseas treating her as a traitor.

After four years, they showed up again in her life, claiming she owed their dying father a last visit.
She returned to the Hayden's mansion with her three years old son, only to discover that they were trying to cage her again and forcing her into a marriage.

Will she give in to their abuse, especially after she had discovered the shocking truth of the identity of her rapist? And how will she take her revenge on them when she finds out that she's the heiress to a Tycoon mafia empire?

How does her biological mother's shady past affect Mila's present?

Is it true that the only thing that brings dangerous and ruthless Mafia Lords, those who are morally gray to their knees, begging and regretting, are the women they worship?

A juicy and twisted love-hate dynamic, Obsession, toxic attraction story.


When she pressed the knife to her own throat, his mask finally cracked. He hesitated for a second before confessing with guilt, “I know who did it, Mila. I know who raped you that night four years ago. And I assure you, he wasn't one of Hayden's enemies.” He stared toward his two brothers with an accusing look.

TRIGGER WARNING:
The story too dark.

"Ensure you go through those papers and sign the divorce. If there's anything you don't understand, contact my lawyer."
Grey's voice was cold as steel, not a flicker of guilt in his eyes.
"Yes, she's your sister, Lila—but I find love and peace with her. At least I can wake up every morning to a child's voice calling me Daddy."
Lila Sims never imagined her twenty-fifth birthday dinner would become the funeral of her marriage.
For three years, she sacrificed her career, her dreams, and herself for Grey Shun—the ruthless CEO of Bintex Ltd. Yet the more she tried to be the perfect wife, the deeper she sank into depression.
Until the night Grey pushed divorce papers across the table and confessed the ultimate betrayal—he found "love" with her sister, the woman who'd secretly given him the child Lila could never give.
Shattered but not defeated, Lila vows to burn down the lie she once called a marriage.
And to do that, she joins hands with Brian Carter—Grey's ex-rival, a dangerous man with his own agenda.
He promises to help her destroy Grey…
but he wants something in return: her heart.
Will Lila risk loving again just to complete her revenge?
Or will she realize that the greatest victory… is walking away before she's broken a second time?

"Ames, darling, you worry me." Linc Tanner, my billionaire stepfather breathes into the phone, and heat rises to my face at that damn nickname. That nickname coming out from his forbidden lips, capable of making my toes curl, my knees bent before him, taking all of him deep into my throat.

♠︎ ♠︎ ♠︎

The first day she came in contact with her stepfather, Amelia felt something shift in the air. Linc exudes menace. There's something about him that overwhelmed her.

As the years passed—she found this magnetism toward him. It drew her in so deeply that despite knowing how wrong it was to find her stepfather attractive and lust after him, she couldn’t talk herself out of it.

It was every shade of wrong. She should’ve been disgusted.

Her pussy still clenched every time she thought about him, the way he looks at her, those dark eyes filled with a ring of lust and primal hunger. It melted her, it soaked her. It drenched her.

When Amelia received a call to intern in her billionaire stepfather's company throughout the summer break, Amelia is terrified of what awaits her back in his New York City mansion where just three years ago after her mother's death and till now, she had been fighting against her treacherous feelings for him.

He's been the only object of her wildest fantasies. Oh, the things she had thought about him doing to her, they were illicit. Filthy. Completely taboo.

But Amelia is determined not to let her secret attraction override her judgments. Only if Linc would share the same resolve. She got the shock of her life when he didn't, and that is where the lines get blurrier for them.

I told myself to only check his wound, but my gaze betrayed me--sliding back to his lips again and again. Thin, pale, but so inviting it made my throat dry.

What are you doing, Matilda? Stop!

My hand trembled as I nearly touched them. Just a little closer… Then, as if fate wished to humiliate me, his eyes opened. Golden amber, locking straight into mine.

"Want to kiss me?"

"No! I—!" My whole body jolted backward.

I stumbled, about to fall flat on the floor but in that instant, his hand shot out. His grip was firm, pulling me forward instead of letting me fall.

My body lurched, and before I knew it, I dropped my fucking ass on his lap.

His gaze instantly dropped lower, stopping at my breast. I froze, realizing my nightwear left little to the imagination. The sudden awareness of it made my entire face burn.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

This is why I always get dumped! Because I lose my head the moment I see a handsome man!

★★★

Matilda Lawson is just an ordinary investigative journalist in Sydney, chasing murder stories while surviving her string of failed romances.

Whilst Blake McAllister is anything but ordinary... Alpha of the powerful Blue Mountain Pack, hiding his beast behind the mask of a cold and untouchable CEO in the human world.

One night was enough. Her human scent branded itself into his soul, and Blake lost control. From that moment on, Matilda became his obsession... the woman he would never release, no matter the cost.

"Her scent was his deadly obsession--her body, his temptation. And her heart... whether she wanted it or not, would only ever belong to him!"

On the night that Lioraé was supposed to get engaged, she found her boyfriend with not one but three women laughing and calling her boring.
She – angry at herself and all the years she wasted on him – determines not to hold back again. She is going to give one night to the next man she sees.
Soren Vale, a dangerously breathtaking and strikingly rich billionaire, happens to be her victim. They tumble into bed and spend the night together. He is very much unlike everything she has ever known. One night is all she asked for, just one night to forget.
Lioraé does not expect her world to take a huge turn until she walks into her new job on Monday, only to discover that her one-night stand is her boss. Now Soren is holding her tightly because he wants her.
He wants her close, in his penthouse, in his arms and on his bed.
He treats her special and makes her feel things she had never felt before, things she would never want to admit out loud.
When she discovers she is carrying his child, the only line between them blurs, making her the billionaire's obsession – the man she can't walk away from.
Now they both have to figure out what love and obsession have in common.

When her twin sister runs away on her wedding day, Elinra Cyrus is forced to take her place, to marry the cursed Alpha of the Zarek Pack. But the ceremony goes horribly wrong, binding her not to one… but three powerful hybrid Alphas.

Trapped in a cold land ruled by secrets and moonlight, Elinra must navigate deadly passion, betrayal, and a curse born from forbidden love. As desire and danger intertwine, she discovers that one of the Alphas, the ruthless Kaelrix, might be her true mate… and the key to breaking the curse.

But when betrayal comes from the people she loves most, Elinra must decide, surrender to fate, or rise against it and rewrite her destiny.

Ariel thought rejection was the worst pain a mate bond could bring—until the night she was beaten, mocked, and left with nothing but her scars. She ran, desperate for freedom, only to fall into the arms of the one man every alpha feared to cross.

Trent Blackwood.
Cruel. Untouchable. A predator wrapped in the skin of a king. His very presence could silence a room, his dark aura enough to make even alphas bow their heads. Women trembled at his name, but when his hard gaze landed on Ariel—the fragile slave girl who should have broken years ago—he didn’t see weakness. He saw fire. He saw his.

She wanted escape. He wanted her surrender.
Her defiance only fueled his hunger, her innocence clashing dangerously with his possessive obsession. The more she pushed him away, the more he pulled her into his shadow—protecting her, claiming her, daring the world to touch what was his.

Between betrayal, forbidden desires, and a war that could tear their world apart, Ariel will discover that the most dangerous place she can be… is in the arms of the alpha who swore to never let her go.

My husband Ronald's best friend Clyde died three months ago, and with his last breath, he made Ronald promise to take care of his pregnant widow, Jennifer. From that moment, Jennifer invaded our lives, and I was only four months pregnant at the time.

Then Jennifer got caught in a gang shootout. She needed an emergency blood transfusion, and she had this rare blood type—Rhnull. Turns out, I'm Rhnull too.

To save Jennifer and her baby, Ronald forced me to abort mine.

The invincible Dragon Lord Kane returns from the Northern Frontier, only to find his daughter caged and his pianist wife trapped in a luxury lounge. He chains her in pain, summons 10,000 elite soldiers to rush her performance, while hidden demon forces creep in to destroy his family.

Everyone knows how much Gideon Moretti loves his wife Isabella.

We built this empire together—from street enforcers to rulers of all five boroughs of New York. He promised me the world.

I believed him.

For five years, I took bullets for him. Bled for him. Sacrificed everything so he could become the king of this city.

Then, just days before our fifth anniversary—on the same day I found out I was pregnant—I saw a video.

Gideon, in a bridal boutique, his hand on another woman's waist. Helping her choose a wedding dress.

Daisy. His first love.

Turns out, she's been back for two months. Every "business trip" he took? He was with her.

I made my decision that night. I would leave. Take our baby and disappear.

My child would not grow up in a house built on lies.

For three years, everyone at Spire Academy believed Liam loved me. Until I uncovered his secret plan: steal my academy recommendation to save Anna, and keep me waiting on the sidelines. He handed my future to another girl and threw me to a mad duke to be dissected. I escaped death by leaping into the Rift of Silence, only to be pulled from the abyss by Arnold, an ancient night lord. When Liam finally realized his sin, he begged for a second chance. But the girl who waited for him in the dark died in the rift. I have a new life, and I will never look back.

I was employee No.001, building his startup with him right from the garage.
Then a subordinate draped in an IvyLeague aura arrived, and he pushed me ruthlessly aside.
Crushed by betrayal, I fled eight hundred miles to Seattle and rebuilt my career at a rival tech giant. When anonymous online smears sought to ruin my reputation, I unmasked every one of her lies.
He fell from his CEO throne. I stepped into my welldeserved spotlight, and I will never be anyone’s second choice.

My husband, Roman, has a bad heart. Five years ago they cut his chest open, and after that I quit my job and stayed home to keep him alive.
That day I got to his office ten minutes early with his lunch.
Through the glass door I watched Brielle Nash, his assistant, pick up his pill box. Twenty-eight compartments. I fill it every Sunday night.
She flipped open Wednesday evening, tipped the pills into her palm, and dropped them in the trash.
"That's the one that makes you feel eighty."
Roman laughed. He didn't stop her.
Then she handed him the can she'd been drinking from, and he took a sip out of her hand.
"That's living," she said. "Don't tell the boss lady, though. She'd have me fired."
He reached over and ruffled her hair. "I'll lock it in my drawer."
My lunchbox was sitting by his elbow. He hadn't opened it.
Later I found the flask in that drawer. Supplement bottles. A keycard for a boxing gym.
And a key I hadn't seen in five years.
I didn't do anything.
I went home and opened the safe and went through fifteen years of marriage one thing at a time.
Then I started working out what would be mine when he died.

My pre-wedding party was in full swing.

 

Yet, the center of attention wasn't me, but Julian's childhood sweetheart, Blair. She had just announced she was auctioning off her "first kiss."

 

My fiancé, Julian, bought that kiss without a second thought.

 

Amidst the roaring cheers of the crowd, they locked lips. They looked like the perfect match, made in heaven.

 

In that moment, I didn't cry. I didn't make a scene.

 

I casually pulled out my phone and replied to the email from the Paris headquarters: "I accept. I am ready to start immediately."

For three years, I genuinely believed I was the luckiest woman in the world.

Until I hit play on that video.

The moment the screen lit up, my perfect reality shattered into a million jagged pieces.

The woman writhing on the bed was Amanda—the sweet, innocent girl we had both grown up with.

And the hand tracing the curve of her bare skin? It wore the platinum wedding band I had personally slipped onto Louis’s finger.

"I missed you so much..."

"You drive me fucking crazy, baby..."

Hearing my own husband's signature sweet nothings whispered to my childhood best friend gutted me completely.

Our entire social circle constantly praised us as the golden couple. But beneath the glossy surface, who could have guessed this flawless marriage was built on a mountain of sick lies?

Well, if Louis was such a brilliant actor, I figured it was time to give him a show of my own.

I was going to rip off his mask and show the entire world exactly what kind of monster my "perfect husband" truly was.

Two years ago, my best friend Maddie knelt in front of me, crying as she borrowed $50,000.
The very next day, she vanished off the face of the earth. No explanation, no apology, not even a single text message.
I was left carrying her toxic debt. I lost my fiancé, and I lost my ability to trust anyone.
Until one late night, a call came in from an unknown number originating in an abandoned mining district in West Virginia.
On the other end of the line, Maddie said she was getting married. She had the money ready—every last cent.
The wedding venue was a ruined church deep in the mountains, abandoned for a decade. The time: Friday, midnight.

"Are you always this damn sensitive?" my husband snapped, his hands lingering on his ex’s waist.
I stood there, holding our 5th-anniversary cake and my pregnancy secret. He canceled our romantic dinner just to comfort her.
So, I threw the cake away. Next, I'll throw him away.

“Morgan Rice's imagination is limitless. In another series that promises to be as entertaining as the previous ones, A THRONE OF SISTERS presents us with the tale of two sisters (Sophia and Kate), orphans, fighting to survive in a cruel and demanding world of an orphanage. An instant success.”--Books and Movie Reviews (Roberto Mattos)The new #1 Bestselling epic fantasy series by Morgan Rice!In A CLASP FOR HEIRS (A Throne for Sisters—Book Eight), Sophia, Kate and Lucas finally meet their parents. Who are they? Why were they in exile?And what secret message might they hold for them about their identities?Meanwhile, the Master of Crows ravages Ashton, Stonehome lies in danger, and Sebastian must find a way to whisk Violet to safety.Will Sophie, Kate and Lucas return in time to save them?Will they return at all?A CLASP FOR HEIRS (A Throne for Sisters—Book Seven) is book #7 in a dazzling new fantasy series rife with love, heartbreak, tragedy, action, adventure, magic, swords, sorcery, dragons, fate and heart-pounding suspense. A page turner, it is filled with characters that will make you fall in love, and a world you will never forget. “[A Throne for Sisters is a] powerful opener to a series [that] will produce a combination of feisty protagonists and challenging circumstances to thoroughly involve not just young adults, but adult fantasy fans who seek epic stories fueled by powerful friendships and adversaries.”--Midwest Book Review (Diane Donovan)

In a world where the magic of the ocean and the secrets of the moon intertwine, Mia, a dazzling golden mermaid, dreams of true love. During a festive night on the beach, her life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Andrew, a charismatic scientist who hides a dark secret: he is a werewolf. The connection between them is instantaneous, but happiness is short-lived, as the evil mermaids who stalk the werewolves are quick to show their cruelty..
When these evil mermaids kidnap Mia, her life is extinguished in a tragic twist of fate. Heartbroken, Andrew defied the laws of nature in a desperate attempt to revive her.
Thus, using Mia's organs and heart, he creates a new creature: a reborn mermaid, powerful and passionate, endowed with extraordinary abilities and, most importantly, a deep connection to him.

Now, this new mermaid awakens in a world where love and revenge intertwine. Though her essence is that of Mia, the reborn mermaid, whom Andrés has named Selene, carries with her fragments of memories that emerge in flashes, leaving her conflicted between her new identity and the love that binds her to Andrés.

Selene discovers that her resurrection has not been without consequences. The sciencie Andrés used to bring her back has upset the balance between sea creatures and werewolves, unleashing the wrath of the evil mermaids who now seek revenge for Mia's death.

"She was MINE before. How could I have known she would find another man so quickly?"
Dresden Wade was pretty sure the goddess was punishing him. Married for half a decade to his childhood sweetheart without a child, he is desperate for a chance to fight his wrongs when he sees her again.
His TRUE mate. The woman he scorned and humiliated all those years ago.
Except that now, she is standing holding hands with another Alpha.
Mara Reid wants nothing to do with the surly, arrogant Alpha that used to be her mate. He had made the earlier parts of her adulthood traumatic to say the least.
So why did meeting him again feel like coming home?
Why did her traitorous heart skip whenever he called her name?

"You will keep teleported back if you choose to want to be with him, remember it!" The kindest man turned into a villain.

"I won't lose you to him again!" The ruthless man turned into soft.

In between them, Choi was bewildered to choose her right future partner.

While she was anxious between them, her family members tried to kill her for the property that was going to be her.

Who will she choose? And the teleportation will keep turn the table again and again to make her life worse?

Let's see in the chapters!

She lost her mother to him. Then her father. Then her crown.

Then the night came when she lost everything else.

Valdris is not a man who waits. He has fought the same war for three hundred years, buried generals, toppled kingdoms, and never once blinked. He takes what he needs and he does not apologise for it.

He needed a witch queen.

He did not expect her

But something far older than their war is moving through the south, and it is not stopping. It does not negotiate. It does not retreat. It has been feeding on the earth itself for centuries — slowly, quietly, the way a fire feeds on a house before anyone smells the smoke.

Malachar the Demon Monarch has been patient for three hundred years.

He isn't anymore.

Dragon fire won't touch him. Armies won't slow him. Every wall between him and what he wants has already begun to crack — and he knows it. The only question left is whether the two people who can stop him will destroy each other first.

A prisoner who has every reason to let the world fall.

A king who has never once asked for help.

And a demon lord who is already inside the walls.

Some enemies you can fight.

Some you were always meant to face together.

The hard part is surviving long enough to figure out which is which.

I am the top algorithm genius on Wall Street.
When my wife's first love got into serious trouble, she didn't hesitate to cut off my daughter's medical expenses and force me to go to jail for that scumbag.
But she didn't know that without me, her multi-billion dollar empire was just an empty shell that could explode at any moment.
She could never have known that the little girl she cursed as a "bastard" and who was driven to her death by her own hands was actually her own flesh and blood, whom she thought had died at birth.
When, a few days later, I, who should have been dying in prison, suddenly arrived with short-selling capital and a top-secret paternity test... I wonder if this high and mighty queen will still be able to laugh.

My daughter begged me, tears in her eyes, to take her to gymnastics camp—just the two of us.

I thought it was her way of proving she loved me.

I was wrong.

In that hotel room in Toronto, I overheard my husband's voice—with another woman.

“Don't worry, Sophia will find a way to stay a few more days. I promised her that blue limited-edition leotard.”

“Her body now… after giving birth, it's ruined.”

In that moment, my world collapsed.

I thought I'd only been betrayed by my husband.
But the daughter I raised with everything I had—she was his accomplice.

The child I nurtured with my own hands kept clearing the path: so that woman could sleep in my bed, wear the lingerie I could no longer fit into, sneer in front of the mirror at every single mark my body earned from bringing life into this world.

I once believed that giving up my career would be enough to hold my family together.

But they joined hands to tell me: my sacrifice was never honored. It was a joke.

When a woman who has given everything to her family finally wakes up—

Her revenge will make every single one of them remember exactly what they did.

My husband's first love was in trouble.
When the news came, I was lying on the operating table.
Dr. Miller put down his scalpel and said to Dr. Johnson, "I'll leave my wife's surgery to you."

"If I don’t go now, I might regret it for the rest of my life."

With that, he turned and walked away.
Watching my husband's retreating figure, I couldn't hold back—tears fell.
The next second, the cold blade of a scalpel touched my skin.

Dr. Johnson spoke calmly, "Why the tears? With me here, you'll be fine."

"Mommy's just a housewife! I don't want Mommy anymore—I want Aunt Jessica!"

Those words from my eight-year-old son, Jimmy, hit harder than any physical blow. I stood frozen in our living room, surrounded by the shards of the vase I’d just smashed. My husband, Robert, didn't even flinch. He just pulled Jessica closer, his hand resting possessively on her waist.

"Stop being dramatic, Scarlett," Robert sneered, his eyes cold. "Jessica is my soulmate. She understands my work. You? You just clean."

Eight years of devotion. Eight years of sacrificing my career to build this home. And now, my husband and son were looking at a stranger with the love that belonged to me.

I tried to reach for Jimmy, but he pushed me away with his small, angry fists. "Bad Mommy! Aunt Jessica buys me candy! You're just an ugly hag!"

My heart twisted until it snapped. I watched them leave for Jessica's award party—an award for a paper I practically wrote but couldn't claim. I was left alone in the silence of the house I paid for, bleeding from the glass cuts on my hands.

Later that night, at the hospital, after I’d been injured by Robert’s own hand, the nurse asked Jimmy who I was. He looked me dead in the eye and said, "I don't know her. Jessica is my mom."

That was the moment the old Scarlett died. I wiped the blood from my face, picked up my phone, and dialed my lawyer.

"Mr. Owens," I whispered, my voice trembling but resolute. "Let's redraft the agreement. I don't want custody. They can have each other."

In the seventh year of being a stay-at-home husband, I discovered the son I cherished as the most precious treasure in my life was actually the illegitimate child of my wife and her male best friend.
To conceal the scandal of her infidelity, my CEO wife, worth millions, joined forces with her male best friend in a grand deception. They single-handedly destroyed my artistic career, transforming me into a free nanny raising their illegitimate child.
Upon learning the truth, I didn't lose my composure.
I calmly presented the divorce papers and the paternity test report proving no biological relation, then turned and walked away without looking back.
Later, that ever-lofty wife, the one who had once publicly doused me with ice water for her male best friend, was utterly consumed by regret and fury.
She kicked the scoundrel to the curb. In front of a crowd, she pressed a switchblade to her own throat, casting aside all dignity to kneel on the ground, crying and begging me to look at her just once more.
I didn't even blink. My voice was as cold as ice. "If you want to die, do it outside. Don't ruin my mood for coffee."

“Why is Elara dying on my stream?”

Sienna Vale laughed in front of half a million viewers while my heroine glitched on-screen, wearing the ring I designed and speaking the line I wrote.

Caleb didn’t ask if I was okay. He shoved the emergency laptop toward me and said, “Fix it before the investors panic.”

So I opened the live build.

But instead of saving his launch, I patched one line into the game credits:

Created by Maya Reed.

EXCERPT:

"Rayne stood looking at her reflection in the mirror. Her a pale green ballgown clung to her curves and left little to the imagination. Her jet-black curls are swept up and pinned to her head, leaving her neck exposed. Tonight was the night that most of the unmated wolves in all the North American packs would hopefully find their mates. She was sure all of them were just oozing with excitement.

She was not.

She didn’t want a mate. She didn’t need a mate...."

“...but the sudden scent of jasmine and vanilla hit her nose from somewhere close. That meant only one thing. Her mate was near..."


Rayne met her mate at the Moonlight Ball when she was eighteen, her mate that she never wanted to find, that she never wanted in her life. He showed up out of nowhere. His actions that night unknowingly set her free. She took the freedom he gave her, ran away, and never once looked back.

Now five years later he shows back up in her life after rejecting her five years ago, demanding that she take up her rightful place by his side. He walked away from her after calling her weak. No way was she going to just let him back into her life as if he belonged there. Rayne never wanted a mate, would he being here now change that? Her body and soul beg for him to claim her, yet her heart belongs to another.

Can her mate convince her to give him a chance? Will her lover convince her to stay with him? The Moon Goddess paired her with someone not of her choice, all Rayne has ever wanted was the chance to choose for herself. Who will win? Rayne or the fate that the moon set for her?

For mature readers 18+
Warning for abusive past trauma
Her Returned Mate is Book 1 in the Gathering Shadows Series. Book 2 His Redemption is also available for reading now on Anystories.

"I look better in the wedding dress. Your ugly fiancée can't compare to me, right?" "Of course, you do. You look way better."
Standing right outside the bridal fitting room, I watched my fiancé, Alexander Blackwell, hold his mistress in his arms.
The very wedding dress the woman wore was the custom-made designer gown meant for my own wedding next month.
For seven long years, I gave up my youth and poured everything into Alexander, turning him from a nobody into a tech billionaire.
He always thought I was just a helpless orphan who had nowhere else to go, blindly confident that I would never dare to leave him.
He had no idea that I was actually one of the heirs to the top-tier Sterling family in London.
When he finally realized what he had lost and desperately tried to beg for my return, I didn't look back.
Because I ran into Theodore Morrow—the city's most powerful, ruthless billionaire CEO, and the childhood fiancé whose heart I had broken when I called off our engagement years ago.

Sophie Ashford's perfect life shattered at her husband Ethan’s 35th birthday party. In front of everyone, he announced their divorce, accused her of being the reason for their childlessness, and revealed his engagement to her best friend, Veronica who is already pregnant for him. Humiliated and heartbroken, Sophie fled, vowing never to look back.

A chance encounter with Lucas Ashford, a mysterious stranger at a bar who she didn't know his name at that time, led to a one-night escape that changed everything. Weeks later, Sophie discovered she is pregnant, giving her the strength to rebuild her life at least for the sake of her child.

Four years later, Sophie had finally found peace until Ethan reappeared, claiming her son was his and begging for forgiveness. But Ethan wasn’t the only one determined to claim Sophie’s heart. Lucas, the man from the one-night stand, returned and learned the truth, that the child was his. To complicate matters further, Lucas turned out to be Ethan’s estranged cousin.

As Sophie became caught in a fierce love triangle with two brothers, Will Sophie forgive Ethan’s betrayal for her sake? Can Lucas prove his love is genuine? Or will Sophie choose herself and carve out a new path free of these men?

In my last life, the heatwave collapse began with me turning an abandoned warehouse into a safe zone. I stocked it, fortified it, and brought my girlfriend inside. That same night, she slid the bolts open from within and let an armed crew storm the place. They threw me out to die.

I survived the heat, only to learn too late that it was just the warning. The real purge came next, when brutal cold hit overnight and froze me to death in the snow.

Then I opened my eyes and found myself back one month before disaster.

While everyone else rushed to buy water and fans, I was the only one who knew the heat was just the beginning. The deep freeze was what would really wipe people out.

This time, I explained nothing. I poured everything I had into diesel, insulation, winter stoves, generators, and turned that warehouse into a fortress built for the cold.

She came again, just like before. This time, I never let her through the door. So she ran straight to the armed gang and had them surround my warehouse for three full days.

She thought trapping me inside meant she’d already won.

What she didn’t know was that in just a few more days, the freeze would arrive.

And the people outside had no fuel, no winter gear, no way to stay warm.

They weren’t waiting for me to break.

They were waiting for their own deaths.

For my fiancée’s career, I was willing to be the ghost designer behind her for five years.

Until the day of the key bid, she stole the blueprint I had spent two sleepless years perfecting and signed it with the name of her useless first love.

The drawings are gone You can draw them again He needs this project to survive Be sensible she said, impatient when I confronted her

I did not argue My heart went cold I calmly left my engagement ring and my resignation letter and went to Europe

In just three months, without me, she became disgraced and buried in debt While I won Europe’s highest architectural gold award

I watched the once proud her soak in icy water for five hours just to earn a trace of my sympathy

I handed her a basic junior interview form with indifference Want to start over Report to the front desk Start with errands and work your way up

I was reborn.
In my past life, for the sake of my childhood sweetheart Chiara, I rushed into a sea of fire to save her lover, but I was disfigured by strong acid. In return, I was rejected and abandoned by her, and ultimately died tragically on the street.
Reborn before the narcotics factory explosion, I coldly turned away from Chiara's pleas for help: "If it's true love, go in and die with her."
This time, I'm not a sycophant anymore; I'm going to make all those who betrayed me pay a bloody price.

During the Yearbook photoshoot, the photographer smiled and gestured for the couples to move closer together.
But Daniel pressed his hand against my shoulder and pushed me straight to the edge of the group, then turned and pulled Harper to his side.
"Harper and I are this year's Valedictorian and Salutatorian. It makes sense for us to stand together—it'll look better for the Yearbook spread."
This wasn't the first time he'd pushed me away.
When I brought him my AP Calculus mistakes, he barely glanced at them before saying my foundation was too weak—don't waste his time.
But when Harper, ranked second in our class, brought him basic algebra questions and played dumb, he didn't notice a thing.
He'd even FaceTime with her until two in the morning, patiently breaking down every single step.
When I wanted to study with him at the library, he'd frown and say I was breaking his focus.
But when Harper dropped just two points on a quiz, he'd skip track practice entirely to take her to the beach and cheer her up.
Right before the photographer pressed the shutter, he couldn't help teasing, "You two are a couple, right? You look like prom king and queen material!"
Daniel looked at Harper, his smile proud and tender. "We're always on the same wavelength."
Harper blushed and ducked her head as the guys from the team whistled and hollered around them.
I stood outside the noise, gripping my phone so hard my knuckles went white. The camera app I'd opened hours ago had already timed out.
The dark screen reflected the dress I'd tried on for hours last night, and the curls I'd ironed over and over again.
God, how stupid of me.
The spot beside him was never meant for me.
And now? I don't want it anymore.

My brother and my fiancée forged evidence of my crimes. They claimed I was guilty of corruption, bribery, and betraying the family—that I was a traitor to the nation. If not for their "mercy," they said, I would have already been sentenced to death.

But that wasn't enough. Three years later, when Father lay dying, my brother and fiancée threw me into the Gulf of Mexico, all to eliminate any chance I might have of competing for the family inheritance.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to three years ago—to the moment they framed me for treason...

Isabella believes that her boyfriend can change is way again and be the man she fell in love with. But when she get kidnapped because of him, and he is to busy with another lady instead of saving her. She understands she is better off without him. She gets saved by her boyfriend cousin who has loved Isabella for years. Just stayed in the shadows. Will Alexander help her heal from the broken heart his ignorant cousin leaves her with, and then win her heart?

My wife never knew what I really did. She only knew I was gone most of the year and money hit our account every month.

The day she cheated, she rummaged through my drawer, found an eagle-shaped brooch, and gifted it to her lover like a flashy accessory. “It’s worthless,” she said. “Perfect with a suit.” I warned her again and again to bring it back. She called me annoying, powered off her phone, and blocked me everywhere.

She didn’t know I’m a cleaner—the kind who handles quiet jobs—and that brooch isn’t jewelry. It’s an organization badge, a mark that turns you into a target the moment it appears in public.

That night, the killers came. The ballroom was sealed. She trembled under a table while her lover shoved her out to take the bullets.

When a cold gun barrel pressed to her temple and someone asked, “Who does the brooch belong to?”

I was the undefeated queen of the underground octagon—a body held together by broken bones and spilled blood, all to build Dorian's fighting empire from the ground up.
But when he'd made it to the top in his tailored suits and polished shoes, suddenly my scars made me too crude, too ugly to stand beside him.
He ordered me to throw my title defense—told me to take a dive for some rich girl whose daddy bought her a spot in the cage. And when that woman shattered both my legs with an illegal knee strike, he just stood there and watched.
I clawed my way out of that wreckage—barely breathing. Left him a blood-stained divorce decree and vanished.
While he mourned over what he thought were my ashes, I was already training alongside the legendary king of the octagon, rebuilding myself from the ground up.
Now I'm back—stronger than ever.
This time, I'm going to break that princess's pretty face and crush his pathetic ego underfoot.

My husband, Callum, never loved me. On our wedding night, he panted another woman’s name.
For five years, I endured a cold, loveless marriage. The only reason I held on was my daughter, Tessa.
But on the eve of her fourth birthday, Callum went behind my back and personally delivered her to his mistress Seraphina's underground lab.
The moment my daughter was drained of her blood and her heart stopped beating on that operating table, he was drinking champagne with Seraphina to celebrate their success.
From the moment I walked out of the crematorium holding Tessa’s freezing urn, the submissive wife I used to be died.